Game Design: Types of Multiplayer Games
John C. McGarvey
Bonita High School
Types of Multiplayer Games
Independent Competition
- Simplest way to create a competitive game mode to make players take turns playing the single-player game and declare the player who does the best to be the winner.
- Example: Super Mario Brothers on the SNES
- Another method is to split the screen so that both players play the single-player mode a the same time.
- Drawbacks:
- There are no interactions between the players.
- Offers a competitive mode, but usually not as fun.
Dependent Competition
- Creates interactions between players that provides each player with a game play experience that is dependent on their opponent.
- This is usually achieved by setting the game play within a shared environment and providing competing goals.
- Example: The Tank Game.
- A shared environment is not necessary: You could create a split screen Super Rainbow Reef that included power-up bricks that affected the opposing players' starfish or shell.
- This would make each player's experience dependent on the other other.
Drawbacks to Dependent Competition
- If players' skills aren't equally matched the game stops being fun for both players rather quickly.
- Many competitive games include features to rebalance the competition.
- Examples: handicaps settings, weaker characters, hidden catch-up mechanisms, losing player given extra power ups.
- So people don't like competition.
Independent Cooperation
- Players are allowed to work towards the same goal, but they are not required to work together or interact with each other to achieve it.
- Example: Wingman Sam
- One of the most practical ways of including cooperation into your games because each player can survive on their own if another player dies.
- Most arcade games work this way (You would be upset if your character died (and you lost your 50 cents) because your buddy is a newb).
Dependent Cooperation
- This type of multiplayer game encourages players to interact or collaborate in order to achieve the game's goals rather than just both being on the same side.
- Give each player different roles or skills within the game.
- Example: In Wingman Sam we could make on player control a slow bomber with lots of forward firepower, while the other player has a smaller fighter plane with excellent maneuverability.
- The players ar forced to find collaborative strategies that utilize their own strengths and weakness to complete the game goals.
- Drawbacks:
- Most players will not naturally know how to collaborative effectively in your game.
- You will need to create cooperative training levels that encourage cooperation.
Mix and Match
- Most multiplayer games do NOT fall neatly into one category.
- Cooperative games turn competitive for a while when a health pick up appears on the screen (who is going to get it first).
- Competitive games often involve a set of unwritten rules that players cooperate.
- Even Wingman Sam encourages collaboration when one player is about to die, as this ends the game.
Balanced Beginnings
- No one wants to play a multiplayer games that causes them to lose unfairly.
- Players need to feel that multiplayer games give them as much a chance as winning as other players.
- However, this is often not an easy task.